The Dutch States Party () was a republican political faction, and one of the two main factions of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

from the early 1600s to the mid-1700s. They favored the power of the ''

regenten The ''regenten'' ( Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic from the 16th through the 18th century, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a her ...

'' and opposed the Orangist "pro-prince" (''prinsgezindheid'') faction, who supported the monarchical aspirations of the

stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

s and the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

. The States Party was in the ascendancy during the

First Stadtholderless Period The First Stadtholderless Period (1650–72; ) was the period in the history of the Dutch Republic in which the office of Stadtholder was vacant in five of the seven Dutch provinces (the provinces of Friesland and Groningen (province), Groningen, ...

(1650–1672) and the Second Stadtholderless Period (1702–1747). They were supplanted as the leading republican faction by the more democratic Patriots (''Patriotten'') after the Orangist revolution of 1747.

Ideological characteristics

Unlike modern

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, the States Party and the Orangists were not necessarily distinguished by ideology. At the provincial level, choice of sides was driven by the contest for power between members of the

Regenten The ''regenten'' ( Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic from the 16th through the 18th century, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a her ...

class. Local groups often simply adopted the opposite position taken by their factional opponents, a reality made more complex by the rivalry between individual provinces. There was little explicit ideological coherence, and what there was often changed over time. However, since the days of the conflict between

Maurice, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange (; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Lordship of Frisia, Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death on 23 April 1625. Before he became P ...

and

Land's Advocate of Holland The Lands' Advocate () of Holland acted as a legal adviser and secretary to the Estates of Holland. They also acted as leader and spokesman of the Holland deputies in the States-General, and negotiated with foreign ambassadors. The office started ...

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (; 14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619), Lord of the manor, Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613), was a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch rev ...

, the States Party stood for provincial

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

, vested in the provincial States like the

States of Holland The States of Holland and West Frisia () were the representation of the two Estates (''standen'') to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a count, but only his "lieutenant" (the stad ...

, whereas the Orangists emphasised "supra-provincial" sovereignty, residing in the

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States General originated i ...

. The supremacy of the provincial States was first defended by François Vranck in his debate with

Thomas Wilkes Sir Thomas Wilkes (c.1545 – 2 March 1598 ( N.S in Rouen)) was an English civil servant and diplomat during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. He served as Clerk of the Privy Council, Member of Parliament for Downton and Southampton, and ...

in 1587 during the rule of the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...

as governor-general under the

English protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the English form of government lasting from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659, under which the kingdoms of England, Scotland Scotland is a Countries of th ...

, and later taken up by

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...

in his ''De antiquitate reipublicae Batavicae'' (On the Antiquity of the Batavian Republic). The theme was taken up again during the conflict between stadtholder William II and the States of Holland in 1650, in which first the Prince prevailed, and after his death the States, ushering in the "True Freedom" of the First Stadtholderless Period. The doctrine of "True Freedom" was expounded by political philosophers like the Grand Pensionary

Johan de Witt Johan de Witt (24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672) was a Dutch statesman and mathematician who was a major political figure during the First Stadtholderless Period, when flourishing global trade in a period of rapid European colonial exp ...

in his "Deduction"''Deductie, ofte Declaratie, uyt de Fondamenten der Regieringe, tot justificatie vande Acten van Seclusie, raeckende 't employ vanden Prince van Oraigne'' (Deduction, or Declaration, from the foundations of the government, as justification of the

Act of Seclusion The Act of Seclusion was an Act of the States of Holland, required by a secret annex in the Treaty of Westminster (1654) between the United Provinces and the Commonwealth of England in which William III, Prince of Orange, was excluded from the ...

, concerning the employment of the Prince of Orange). and

Pieter de la Court Pieter de la Court (1618 – May 28, 1685) was a Dutch economist and businessman, he is the progenitor of the De la Court family. He thought about the economic importance of free competition and was an advocate of the republican form of gov ...

in his the ''Interest van Holland'' (Interest of Holland) and ''De stadthouderlijcke regeeringe in Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt'' (History of the stadholders of Holland and West-Friesland). In these works the doctrine was extended into a distinctly anti-monarchical and pro-republican direction as a justification for the ''de facto'' abolition of the office of stadtholder in most provinces as "superfluous" and "positively harmful to the general welfare.."

Notable representatives

Some of the most important representatives of the States Party in the history of the Republic were:

'' Loevesteiners''

1650 *

* Gilles van Ledenberg * Jacob de Witt

First Stadtholderless Period

1650–1672 *

Cornelis de Witt Cornelis de Witt (15 June 1623 – 20 August 1672) was a Dutch States Navy officer and statesman. During the First Stadtholderless Period, De Witt was an influential member of the Dutch States Party, and was in opposition to the House of Oran ...

Jacob Dircksz de Graeff Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, ''Free and high fief of Zuid-Polsbroek, free lord of Zuid-Polsbroek'' (Emden 1571 – Amsterdam, 6 October 1638) was an illustrious member of the Dutch Republic, Dutch Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician De Graeff fam ...

Cornelis de Graeff Cornelis de Graeff (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664), often named ''Polsbroek'' or ''de heer van (lord) Polsbroek'' during his lifetime, was an influential regenten, regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, statesman and diplomat of Holland an ...

Andries de Graeff Andries de Graeff (19 February 1611 – 30 November 1678) was a regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam and leading Dutch statesman during the Golden Age. He came from the De Graeff family, which, together with the Bicker family by marria ...

* Andries Bicker * Cornelis Bicker * Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen

Second Stadtholderless Period

1702–1747 * Anthonie Heinsius * Isaac van Hoornbeek * Simon van Slingelandt * Anthonie van der Heim * Willem Buys * Jacob Gilles

Notes

References

{{Reflist Political history of the Dutch Republic Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Republicanism in the Netherlands Historiography of the Netherlands